Alabama schools to get report card grades, A through F, according to new law

MOBILE, Alabama -- Starting in 2014, Alabama schools will be rated on a new system that lawmakers hope will make it easier for someone to tell whether a school is performing well or poorly.

Each school will be getting a letter grade, from A to F, similar to a child’s report card, according to a new law passed by the Alabama Legislature.

The rating system should be much simpler than the current system under No Child Left Behind, which has even educators scratching their heads when the information comes out each fall.

“Anybody outside of education very quickly understands A-F,” said Mobile County schools Superintendent Martha Peek, who is serving on a statewide committee of 16 educators to come up with the criteria of what would separate an A school from a B school, and so on.

“I’m thinking the legislators were hoping for a clearer picture of schools,” Peek said, “and that their hearts are in the right place in that they want to recognize progress.”

The committee – which has a mixture of superintendents, school board members, principals and teachers - has a deadline of Dec. 31 to finalize the details.

“We’re looking at student achievement scores, how the achievement gap is being closed, and for some measures of college and career readiness,” Peek said. “We’re also looking at whether there are learning gains, and also to awarding schools for performance and exemplary progress.”

The criteria likely will tie into the state’s proposed Plan 2020, which the Alabama Department of Education has submitted to the U.S. Department of Education as part of its waiver request from No Child Left Behind.

For a school to meet standards under No Child Left Behind, 100 percent of students – including special-education students - must pass standardized reading and math tests by 2014, which educators have said is impossible.

Alabama and nearly every other state have applied for waivers to No Child Left Behind and presented new plans to rate schools. The federal government has granted such waivers for 33 states and Washington, D.C. Alabama is still waiting to hear on its.

Alabama’s rating system could be similar to Florida’s, which gives elementary and middle schools points based on how many kids pass standardized tests or make gains. Florida’s high schools are rated half on test scores, and half on other factors, including graduation rate, whether students are taking advanced courses, and whether students are ready for college or career.

In 2012, nearly half of Florida’s schools received an A, and about 2 percent received F’s.